MUSEUMS  AND 
INDUSTRIES 


DANA 


THE 


NEW  RELATIONS 

OF 

MUSEUMS  AND  INDUSTRIES 

BY 

JOHN  COTTON  DANA 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  FIRST  TEN  YEARS  OF 
A GROUP  OF  EXPERIMENTAL  MUSEUMS 


NEWARK,  N.  J, 

THE  NEWARK  MUSEUM  ASSOCIATION 

1919 


NOTE  OF  EXPLANATION 


Ten  years  ago  the  government  of  Newark  said,  in  answer  to 
an  inquiry  from  a group  of  citizens  which  included  the  Trustees 
of  the  Public  Library,  that  if  the  inquirers  would  cause  to  be 
formed  a proper  corporation  to  receive  same,  they  would  appro- 
priate $10,000  for  the  purchase  of  a collection  of  Japanese  and 
Chinese  art  objects  then  on  exhibition  in  the  Library.  The  sug- 
gested corporation  was  formed,  with  a charter  including  this 
declaration  of  purpose:  . . to  establish  in  the  City  of  Newark, 

New  Jersey,  a museum  for  the  reception  and  exhibition  of  arti- 
cles of  art,  science,  history  and  technology,  and  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  study  of  the  arts  and  sciences.  . .” 

The  Association  is  engaged  in  activities  so  varied  and  has 
collected  so  unde  a range  of  material  that  it  might  appropriately 
be  called  an  Association  of  Museums  and  not  a Museum  Asso- 
ciation. 

The  following  outline  of  the  ideas  in  accordance  with  which 
I have  managed  the  affairs  of  the  Association  for  ten  years  was 
read  to  the  members  of  the  Museum  Association  at  their  annual 
meeting  on  May  29,  1919. 

A somewhat  detailed  statement  of  certain  of  the  things 
that  have  been  done  by  the  Association  in  these  ten  years  will  be 
found  in  the  appendix. — J . C.  D. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/newrelationsofmuOOdana 


MUSEUMS  AND  INDUSTRIES 


If  you  use  the  word  “art”  in  talk  with  the  average  person 
of  intelligence,  that  person  is  almost  sure  to  think  at  once  of 
paintings.  If  the  word  is  “museum,”  the  thought  is  almost 
surely  of  a gallery  of  these  same  paintings.  If  by  chance  the 
word  “art”  is  so  used  as  to  make  plain  the  fact  that  reference 
is  not  thereby  had  to  oil  paintings,  you  will  find  that  it  calls 
up  in  the  minds  of  most  hearers  of  intelligence  the  thought 
of  objects  that  are  probably  old,  are  almost  certainly  unique 
or  rare,  and  are  indubitably  costly. 

This  tendency  to  think  of  art  and  museums  in  terms  of 
paintings  in  oil  on  canvas  with  gilt  frames,  or  of  objects  which 
are  old,  rare  and  costly,  is  quite  as  unfortunate  as  it  is  uni- 
versal. It  is  unfortunate  for  many  reasons.  Some  of  these 
reasons  I shall  try  to  suggest,  and  shall  at  the  same  time  try 
once  more  to  show  why  I have  been  glad  to  give  my  time  and 
thought  to  the  development  in  this  city  of  a museum  of  a 
certain  rather  definite  kind,  which  I call  “new” — and  to  no 
other. 

Since  this  association  was  formed  ten  years  ago,  certain 
ideas  that  had  been  expressed  by  a few  rather  bold,  and  in- 
quiring spirits,  but  had  not  received  general  approval  by 
friends  of  museums,  have  come  to  be  accepted  by  good  au- 
thorities as  cardinal  principles  of  museum  management.  They 
are  lived  up  to  in  actual  administration  by  very  few  museum 
directors,  partly  because  of  the  great  burden  of  conservatism 
under  which  most  museums  are  obliged  to  live ; but  they 
have  produced  quite  definite  results  on  the  museum  concep- 
tions of  active  and  observant  laymen  by  almost  compelling 
the  adoption  of  new  museum  methods,  and  by  calling  forth 
new  museum-like  enterprises  with  specific  activities  quite  im- 
possible to  the  older  forms  of  museums. 


6 


Newark  Museum  Association 


Of  these  undertakings,  inspired  by  modern  notions  of  the 
powers  and  duties  of  a museum,  I will  mention  only  a few. 

In  England,  long  before  the  war  closed,  men  keen  for  the 
welfare  of  their  country  laid  plans  for  the  betterment  of  her 
industries.  In  October  last,  even  before  the  armistice  came, 
these  plans  were  brought  out  and  definite  steps  taken  for  their 
accomplishment.  The  British  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  an  an- 
cient and  powerful  body,  held  a conference  with  the  National 
Board  of  Trade,  a most  important  factor  in  the  government  of 
Great  Britain.  The  conference  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  H. 
A.  L.  Fisher,  then  president  of  the  National  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. To  this  conference  were  brought  the  plans  which  had 
been  prepared  independently  by  the  two  conferring  bodies. 
These  plans  were  found  to  be  so  alike  in  aims  and  methods, 
that  they  were  easily  merged  into  one.  This  plan  is,  briefly,  to 
establish  a “British  Institute  of  Industrial  Art,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  raising  and  maintaining  the  standard  of  design  and 
workmanship”  (and  note  that  here  mere  workmanship  is  put 
on  a level  with  design)  “of  works  of  industrial  art  produced 
by  British  designers,  craftsmen  and  manufacturers,  and  of 
stimulating  the  demand”  (note  that  demand  is  to  be  stimu- 
lated as  well  as  design  and  workmanship)  “for  such  works  as 
reach  a high  standard  of  excellence.” 

This  institute  will  be  incorporated  under  the  joint  auspices 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  as  the  national  department  dealing 
with  all  industries,  and  the  Board  of  Education,  as  the  au- 
thority controlling  not  only  the  schools  but  also  the  Vic- 
toria and  Albert  Museum,  that  vast  collection  of  the  world’s 
best  products  of  former  days  in  the  field  of  applied  design, 
commonly  alluded  to  as  “South  Kensington.” 

The  Central  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts  of  the  London 
County  Council,  the  National  Amalgamated  Union  of  Shop 
Assistants,  the  Imperial  College  of  Science  and  Technology, 


Museums  and  Industries 


7 


the  National  Physical  Laboratory,  the  Art  Workers’  Guild, 
the  Home  Arts  and  Industries  Association  and  other  like 
bodies,  have  expressed  their  approval  of  the  scheme  and  their 
desire  to  help  it  to  complete  fulfilment. 

The  methods  by  which  this  new  institute  for  the  better- 
ment of  Great  Britain’s  manufactured  products  proposes  to 
attain  its  purposes  are  these : 

Set  up  a permanent  exhibition  in  London  of  the  current 
products  of  British  factories  and  shops,  selecting  the  best  in 
design  and  workmanship,  together  with  kindred  products  from 
other  countries,  both  modern  and  ancient. 

Make  a selling  agency  a part  of  this  exhibit. 

Establish  a fund  for  the  purchase  for  the  State  of  objects 
of  outstanding  merit  shown  in  the  exhibits  of  the  Institute. 

Through  the  Institute  bring  designers,  workers, — mean- 
ing men  who  carry  out  through  and  with  modern  machinery 
the  suggestions  of  designers — and  manufacturers  and  distribu- 
tors into  close  touch  with  one  another. 

Set  up  special  exhibits  and  cause  them  to  travel  through 
the  whole  country. 

Make  use,  through  constant  and  persistent  co-operation, 
of  all  existing  organizations  and  agencies  devoted  to  the  im- 
provement of  design  and  workmanship  in  Great  Britain. 

That  is  a very  brief  outline  of  a great  and  moving  enter- 
prise. The  enthusiasm  which  the  enterprise  has  called  forth 
on  all  sides  is  indicative  of  the  existence  in  England  of  wide- 
spread and  deep  conviction  that  its  industrial  output  must  be 
notably  improved  in  design  and  quality  if  it  is  to  compete 
successfully  in  the  world’s  markets. 

Note  that  what  this  group  of  wise  men  purpose  to  estab- 
lish through  their  Institute  is  a Museum.  Note,  also,  that 
they  find  it  necessary  to  establish  a Museum,  although  they 


Newark  Museum  Association 


have  already  in  London  two  of  the  world’s  greatest  museums, 
the  British  and  the  South  Kensington.  And  note,  once  more, 
that  the  reason  they  do  not  turn  to  either  of  these  museums 
as  the  central  point  of  their  activities,  is  plainly  because 
neither  of  them  is  connected  closely  with  British  manufac- 
turing interests;  neither  of  them  shows  the  designers,  the 
bench-workers,  the  machine-tenders,  the  manufacturers  or  the 
distributors  what  they  all  are  doing,  what  their  competitors 
are  doing,  what  the  world  is  doing,  in  their  several  lines ; and, 
neither  of  them  is,  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word,  an  indus- 
trial, a commercial  or  a teaching  institution. 

The  reasons  why  these  existing  museums  are  not  in  touch 
with  modern  industry,  and  do  not  teach,  lie  largely  in  the  facts 
to  which  I called  attention  in  beginning  this  paper— that  in- 
telligent and  influential  persons  to-day  think  of  museums  in 
terms  of  oil  paintings  or  of  rare,  old  and  costly  objects,  and 
not  in  terms  of  service.  Behind  this  conventionalized  mu- 
seum concept,  made  up  chiefly  of  paint,  antiquity,  and  price, 
lies  an  interesting  story,  the  story  of  the  origin  and  modern 
development  of  the  museum  idea,  too  long  to  be  here  set  forth. 

The  first  point  in  my  argument  is  reached  when  I have 
shown,  as  I have,  that  if  moving  spirits  in  a great  modern  na- 
tion seek  for  help  in  the  betterment  of  their  industries  through 
the  medium  of  a museum-like  institution,  they  find  that  none 
of  the  established  museums  has  shown  itself,  by  its  acquisi- 
tions or  its  activities,  ready  to  do  the  museum-like  work  which 
they  find  needs  to  be  done. 

At  the  risk  of  being  unduly  personal,  I shall  try  to  apply 
the  lesson  of  this  British  New  Museum  movement  to  our  own 
local  situation. 

I interrupt  the  argument  here  to  mention  three  facts : 

Designers,  artists,  workers,  manufacturers  and  distribu- 
tors of  goods  of  Germany  formed  an  association  some  10  years 


Museums  and  Industries 


9 


ago,  for  promoting  good  design  and  good  workmanship,  and 
for  the  diffusion,  through  all  parts  of  the  empire,  of  knowledge 
to  each  line  of  industry  of  the  progress  made  by  the  best  men 
in  that  industry.  This,  you  see,  anticipated  by  a decade  the 
plans  now  being  formulated  for  like  work  in  England. 

Through  a wealthy  patron  of  the  arts,  living  in  Hagen  in 
the  heart  of  the  great  industrial  district  of  the  lower  Rhine, 
this  Association  was  able  to  secure — thanks  to  the  influence  of 
the  art  patron  of  Hagen  and  his  close  touch  with  the  Associa- 
tion just  mentioned, — a very  admirable  exhibit  of  the  products 
of  German  applied  art  in  many  lines,  the  first  exhibit  of  its 
kind  ever  brought  to  this  country.  It  was  shown  here  and 
later  in  six  other  large  cities. 

This  Association  asked  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
New  York  if  it  wished  to  show  this  exhibit.  The  reply  came 
that  the  Metropolitan  did  not  find  it  advisable  to  show  these 
objects  of  applied  art,  partly  because  it  could  not  run  the  risk 
of  coming  thus  into  close  contact  with  anything  commercial. 
This  was  only  eight  years  ago.  And  you  should  note  that  in 
a time  as  near  to  us  as  is  even  1911,  the  thought  I am  develop- 
ing of  the  necessity  of  making  our  public  museums  of  definite 
industrial  value  was  still  alien  to  our  most  important  museum. 

In  1917  and  1918,  and  again  in  the  current  year,  the  Met- 
ropolitan has  held  exhibits  of  purely  commercial  products. 
These  products  have  been  admitted  under  the  very  admirably 
conceived  condition  that  they  be  made  from  designs  which 
were  themselves  taken  direct — with  any  desired  modifications 
— from  objects  already  in  the  museum’s  collection.  That  is, 
our  greatest  American  museum  now  commits  itself  definitely 
to  the  policy  of  helping  industry  in  its  search  for  those  factors 
in  manufacture  which  are  now  seen  to  be  so  essential  to  Eng- 
land,— better  design  and  better  workmanship. 

These  facts  show  that  England  is  late,  though  we  hope 


10 


Newark  Museum  Association 


not  too  late,  in  following  the  lead  of  its  great  competitor; 
that  our  Association  was  doing  sound  pioneer  work  for  the 
museums  of  this  country  when  it  brought  over  here  and 
showed  certain  distinctly  commercial  products  of  Germany; 
and  that  the  vision  I had  of  a museum  of  definite  industrial 
value  to  our  community  was  after  all  only  a few  years  ahead 
of  actualities  as  entered  upon  by  our  greatest  of  museums 
of  art. 

It  is  proper  here  to  note  that  we  have  in  the  Commercial 
Museum  of  Philadelphia  an  institution  which  has,  for  many 
years,  in  its  special  field  of  commerce,  anticipated  some  of 
the  work  that  England  hopes  to  do  through  its  proposed 
institute.  It  has  not  only,  by  its  collections  and  its  service 
of  a corps  of  experts,  been  of  immense  value  in  promoting 
foreign  commerce ; it  has  also,  through  its  very  valuable  trav- 
eling school  collections,  helped  to  make  of  more  interest  and 
value  much  of  the  teaching  work  in  scores  and  hundreds  of 
Pennsylvania  schools. 

The  opinions  I am  expressing  in  this  paper  are  confirmed 
also  by  the  recent  action  of  the  Cleveland  Art  Museum.  This 
museum  opened  not  long  ago  with  a very  expensive  loan  exhi- 
bition of  works  of  art, — including  the  inevitable  paintings  and 
other  rare,  old  and  costly  objects, — not  one  of  which  can  be 
said  to  have  borne  any  helpful  relations  to  the  varied  and 
wonderful  industrial  activities  of  the  city  which  the  museum 
was  founded  to  serve.  To-day,  this  same  museum  begins  to 
collect  objects — not,  I fear,  made  in  Cleveland,  as  they  would 
in  that  case  be  neither  rare  nor  old, — but  objects  “related” 
to  objects  made  in  Cleveland,  and  acquired  with  the  avowed 
hope  that  they  will  prove  helpful  to  the  Cleveland  designer 
and  mechanic. 

I am  confirmed  again  in  my  opinions  by  a recent  decision 
of  the  Art  Museum  of  Buffalo,  which  has  in  recent  years 


Museums  and  Industries 


11 


found  large  sums  with  which  to  defray  the  cost  of  very  elabo- 
rate and  very  expensive  exhibits  of  paintings  and  sculpture, 
to  open  its  doors  to  the  products  of  American  arts  and  crafts, — 
meaning  thereby  the  products  of  private,  individual  workmen. 
This  action  is  surely  a step  toward  admitting  the  work  of 
those  designers  and  mechanics  of  our  great  shops,  who  de- 
sign with  their  brains  and  produce  with  their  hands,  but  as 
yet  are  anathema  to  most  museum  directors  and  trustees,  be- 
cause they  bring  forth  their  handiwork  through  mere  ma- 
chines ! 

The  management  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  has  from  the  very  first  foreshadowed  the  aims  and 
activities  of  the  proposed  British  institute  in  the  field  of  in- 
dustries; for  it  has  always  taught,  has  always  advertised  and 
has  always  been  an  institution  of  service,  as  well  as  of  re- 
search and  acquisition. 


Our  town  is  industrial,  its  products  find  in  the  main  an 
easy  market  in  our  own  country.  But  as  peace  conditions 
come  upon  us,  Newark  products  will  surely  feel  a little  more 
keenly  than  ever  before  the  pressure  of  competition  from 
European  and  Asiatic  manufacturers.  Also,  we  must  expect  a 
somewhat  more  strenuous  competition  from  other  American 
cities.  These  facts  alone  would  be  abundant  reasons  for  mak- 
ing an  effort  to  improve — as  is  all  of  Great  Britain — the  de- 
sign and  the  workmanship  in  our  own  shops.  To  these  facts 
we  can  add  the  fact  that  our  city  has  in  recent  years  begun  to 
think  of  herself  and  her  development,  and  now  quite  defi- 
nitely desires  to  be  considered  as  good  a city  as  any,  and  to 
be  such  in  fact.  This  growth  in  municipal  pride,  this  increase 
in  a proper  local  patriotism,  should  alone  lead  us  to  wish  to 
put  on  foot  a movement  for  developing  better  designers  and 


12 


Newark  Museum  Association 


better  workmen,  similar  to  that  which  Great  Britain  is  pro- 
moting through  the  Institute  I have  described. 

Let  me  here  add  that  arguments  much  like  those  just 
noted  led  us,  here  in  Newark  several  years  ago,  to  do  certain 
things  for  the  improvement  of  design  and  workmanship.  Those 
things  include,  in  part,  the  making  of  three  new  high  schools, 
the  increase  of  attention  paid  to  our  evening  drawing  school, 
the  building  up  of  vocational  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  the 
use  of  vocational  guidance,  the  opening  of  county  vocational 
schools,  and  the  development  of  our  Technical  School.  These 
are  all  helpful  to  the  end  we  are  having  in  mind,  and  though 
our  city,  in  spite  of  them,  is  not  where  it  should  be  in  educa- 
tion, in  design,  industrial  design,  they  point  to  a public 
opinion  which  will  surely  continue  to  demand  better  and 
broader  work  for  the  improvement  of  our  industrial  products. 

Turn,  now,  to  the  very  modest  efforts  of  this  association 
and  to  the  thoughts  which  led  up  to  it  and  to  the  conclusions 
in  accordance  with  which  I have  tried  to  guide  its  develop- 
ment, and  you  will  see  wherein  lies  the  lesson  it  may  draw 
from  the  industrial-betterment  plans  that  are  taking  form  in 
England. 

About  13  years  ago,  I presented  to  the  Board  of  Trade 
the  suggestion  that  that  body  help  to  establish  here  a “Mu- 
seum of  Local  Industries.”  I was  made  chairman  of  a com- 
mittee on  the  subject,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Miss  L. 
Connolly,  then  a supervisor  in  our  schools,  proceeded  so  far 
in  investigation  and  plan  as  to  be  able  to  present  to  the  Board 
of  Trade  a definite  suggestion  of  certain  tentative  steps.  The 
cost  of  these  preliminary  steps  was  to  be  from  $150  to  $300. 
The  Board  of  Trade  directors  were  not  able  to  see  how  this 
would  help  the  city  and  declined  to  appropriate  the  money 
needed. 

Our  plans  were  for  gathering  at  a central  point  certain 


Museums  and  Industries 


13 


products  of  Newark  factories,  so  installed  as  to  be  easily  seen 
and  understood,  with  supplementary  exhibits  put  up  in  con- 
venient form  for  travel  from  schoolroom  to  schoolroom 
throughout  the  city.  As  the  purpose  of  the  whole  scheme 
was  educational,  we  inevitably  tied  it  up  to  and  looked  upon  it 
as  a modest  aid  to  our  public  school  work. 

Had  this  museum  of  Newark  products  and  processes, — a 
museum  of  Newark’s  position  in  design  and  workmanship 
precisely  in  line  with  that  now  projected  by  the  wise  and 
progressive  .men  of  Great  Britain, — had  this  museum  once 
come  into  being,  it  would  almost  inevitably  have  been  taken 
up  into  or  have  itself  taken  over  the  “Monsignor  Doane  Mu- 
seum of  Industrial  Arts,”  which  I later  urged  the  Committee 
on  the  Doane  Memorial  to  establish,  instead  of  buying  with 
the  funds  contributed  for  that  memorial  a quite  inferior  bronze 
statue  by  a rather  inferior  sculptor. 

When  this  association  was  founded  ten  years  ago  I soon 
discovered  that,  though  its  initial  $10,000,  given  by  the  city, 
was  used  to  buy  a collection  of  objects  which  were  chiefly 
in  the  applied  arts  field,  were  models,  that  is  to  say,  for  all 
students  of  design  and  workmanship,  the  thoughts  aroused 
by  our  name — -“Museum  Association” — in  the  men  chiefly  con- 
cerned in  its  promotion  were — as  my  opening  remarks  indi- 
cated they  would  be — almost  solely  of  oil  paintings  and  of  old, 
rare  and  costly  objects. 

I had  then  studied  museums  for  some  ten  years.  I knew 
that  to  spend  our  very  limited  funds  on  paintings  and  on  rare 
and  high-priced  objects  would  merely  lead  us  to  construct 
here, — in  a purely  industrial  city — one  more  of  those  useless, 
wearisome,  dead-alive  Gazing  Collections  of  which  the  whole 
community  would  soon  tire. 

I thought  I knew  then — and  no  end  of  modifications  of 
museum  and  educational  practice  since  then  have  helped  me 


14 


Newark  Museum  Association 


to  what  I fear  has  been  to  some  an  almost  unpleasant  assur- 
ance that  I was  right  in  my  thinking, — I was  sure  then  that 
this  city  could  be  helped  in  its  educational  and  industrial  life 
by  an  active,  teaching  museum ; and  certain  aspects  of  the 
museum  that  it  was  my  ambition  then  to  work  for  were  quite 
identical  with  those  of  “the  Institute  of  Visual  Instruction  in 
the  Arts  of  Design  and  the  Refinements  of  Workmanship” 
which  England  now  proceeds  to  establish. 

A little  later  I was  again  able  to  confer  often  with  Miss 
Louise  Connolly,  and  as  I had  taken  from  her  certain  of  my 
ideas  about  making  for  Newark  a useful  institution  instead  of 
a gazing-gallery,  I asked  her  to  go  again  over  all  obtainable 
museum  literature,  and  then  to  visit  a long  list  of  museums 
and  schools  and  to  give  me  her  conclusions  thereupon.  Those 
conclusions,  found  in  part  in  her  reports  of  study  and  visits, 
and  in  part  in  definite  suggestions  for  a museum  for  Newark, 
were  duly  published.  Circumstances  connected  with  their 
publication  obliged  me  then  to  say  that,  as  my  study  of  mu- 
seums compelled  me  to  feel  that  I could  give  of  my  time  and 
energy  only  to  the  construction  of  a museum  that  promised 
to  be  active  and  useful  to  our  city,  I would  have  to  withdraw 
from  the  museum’s  work  if  my  own  projects,  as  reflected  in 
Miss  Connolly’s  report,  were  not  found  worthy  of  acceptance. 

I rehearse  this  episode  only  to  make  clearer  to  you  the 
fact  that  it  has  not  been  easy  to  insist  that  this  organization 
should  move  toward  a museum  giving  rather  definite  values 
to  its  promoters  and  upholders, — our  fellow  tax-payers — in 
attractiveness  and  in  helpfulness  to  industry  and  education, 
and  should  not  move  toward  a mere  group  of  galleries  of 
paintings  and  costly  curios. 

In  our  attempt  to  make  this  Association  both  attractive 
and  definitely  useful,  we  have  made  it  broader  in  its  range  of 
activities  than  museums  generally  are.  Knowing  that  the 


Museums  and  Industries 


15 


average  person  of  intelligence  has  been  compelled  by  current 
opinion  to  look,  first  of  all,  in  a museum  of  art,  for  oil  paint- 
ings, we  have,  by  purchase  and  by  gift,  acquired  these  until 
our  collection  of  them  numbers  more  than  sixty.  Next  after 
paintings  convention  demands  of  a museum  of  art  that  it 
possess  sculptures,  and  our  acquisitions  in  this  line  include 
plaster  copies  of  antiques,  and  bronzes,  many  of  the  latter 
being  of  the  best  quality.  Next  after  paintings  and  sculptures 
museum  precedent  and  popular  feeling  insist  that  we  have 
the  old  and  rare  and  costly  in  objects  of  applied  art;  and  in 
this  line,  largely  through  gifts,  we  have  come  into  the  pos- 
session of  things  that  fairly  well  meet  these  requirements. 

If  I seem  to  you  to  imply  that  all  these  paintings,  sculp- 
tures and  objects  of  age  and  value  have  been  acquired  against 
my  judgment  and  advice,  then  I give  you  quite  the  wrong 
impression.  A city  as  big  and  rich  and  as  increasingly  con- 
scious of  itself  as  is  ours,  ought  to  feel  that  it  is  not  properly 
advanced,  in  comparison  with  other  cities,  if  it  has  not  a few 
treasures  in  the  field  of  art,  and  they  of  the  highest  type  and 
beautifully  housed.  And  I expect  to  live  to  see  Newark  prop- 
erly advance  herself  in  this  regard.  Indeed,  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  many  exhibits  we  have  set  up  in  these  ten  years 
have  been  distinctly  artistic,  in  the  old  museum  meaning  of 
the  word. 

What  I am  trying  to  convey  to  you  is  a clear  impression 
of  my  very  strong  conviction,  based  now  on  more  than  20 
years  of  study  of  the  subject  of  museums,  and  17  years’  study 
of  our  own  city,  that  with  our  limited  income  and  our  limited 
quarters  we  should  give  much  of  our  time  and  energy  to  test- 
ing acquisitions  and  methods,  by  and  through  which  we  can 
project,  for  our  city,  an  institution  of  definite  and  measurable 
value;  and  of  measurable  value  particularly, — this  being  very 


16 


Newark  Museum  Association 


manifestly  an  industrial  city, — in  the  improvement  of  design 
and  workmanship  in  our  industries. 

Because  I felt  that  we  should  construct  for  ourselves 
here  a useful  museum,  I suggested  a museum  of  our  industries 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  13  years  ago;  urged  a Doane  Memorial 
Museum  of  Applied  Arts  11  years  ago;  have  acquired  applied 
art  objects  as  our  modest  fund  permitted  and  have  brought 
out  such  exhibits  as  those  of  Modern  German  applied  arts,  and 
of  the  Clay  products  and  the  Textiles  of  New  Jersey. 

The  best  of  museums,  no  matter  how  diligently  it  try  to 
be  attractive  and  useful,  is  quite  minor  in  its  influence  com- 
pared with  the  schools.  We  have  tried  to  adjust  ourselves  to 
this  fact.  We  have  known  that  what  we  can  do  in  the  teach- 
ing line  with  young  people  should  be  looked  on  as  experi- 
mental. If  we  are  successful  in  discovering  a few  boys  and 
girls  who  are  born  to  become  students,  collectors  and  organ- 
izers in  any  field  whatever  of  sciences,  art,  society  or  indus- 
try— and  we  have  been  remarkably  successful  herein,  in  view 
of  our  limits  of  income,  space,  equipment  and  staff — then  we 
can  do  little  more.  The  schools,  we  have  a right  to  assume, 
will  take  advantage  of  our  modest  discoveries,  and  pursue 
them.  This  assumption  applies  also  to  such  success  as  we 
have  had  in  meeting  the  calls  of  teachers  for  objects  that  they 
can  use  in  their  classrooms  to  make  more  attractive,  more 
easily  understood  and  more  impressive  the  topics  their  text- 
books expound.  We  lend,  of  objects  gathered  for  this  pur- 
pose, several  thousand  each  year.  With  our  present  income 
we  can  not  extend  this  work.  I am  sure  we  ought  to  extend 
it  and  to  be  granted  ample  appropriation  for  that  purpose. 
A school  museum  can  be  far  more  effectively  and  far  more 
economically  maintained  as  a part  of  a general  museum  of  art, 
science  and  industry,  than  as  an  independent  institution. 

When  one  of  the  museums  in  Philadelphia — following 


Museums  and  Industries 


17 


herein  the  old  museum  idea  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the 
rare  and  costly — can  spend  $60,000  on  a single  vase,  the  cost 
to  this  city  of  a good  school  museum,  of  daily  interest  and 
use  to  thousands  of  our  young  people,  seems  quite  negligible. 

I speak  of  these  matters  at  some  length  because  I wish  to 
make  clear  the  wide  range  of  our  own  activities,  modest  as 
they  are,  and  to  suggest  that,  when  you  do  finally  achieve  a 
great  and  worthy  museum  building  for  Newark,  it  should  be 
not  merely  a palace  of  art,  and  a quiet  and  retired  home  of 
pure  science.  It  should  contain  treasures,  of  course;  our  city 
can  not  afford  not  to  own  such  and  rejoice  in  the  ownership ; 
but  it  should  provide  liberal  space  for  setting  forth  the  real 
Newark,  and  that  means  the  Newark  of  great  industries.  It 
should  promote  the  keenest  possible  interest  in  the  products 
of  those  industries  in  young  people,  and  it  should  give  room, 
money  and  service  to  those  methods  of  making  those  products 
better  in  design  and  workmanship  that  are  about  to  be  adopted 
in  a large  way  by  Great  Britain.  It  should  give  ample  room 
to  display  and  use, — to  use  in  education  and  also  in  expound- 
ing the  raw  materials  of  industry  to  managers  and  workers 
and  in  helping  the  students  of  all  the  sciences — such  a col- 
lection of  scientifically  gathered,  arranged  and  labelled  ob- 
jects as  we  already  have  in  our  Disbrow  collections.  It 
should  afford  ample  room  for  school  collections  and  for  their 
study  by  teachers  and  for  their  transport  to  and  from  schools 
as  needed.  And  it  should  tell  the  story  of  the  life  of  man,  in 
his  age-long  rise  from  cave-dweller  to  city-dweller,  in  a man- 
ner to  attract  by  picture,  map,  model,  tool  and  implement, 
both  old  and  young,  and  to  serve  as  a supplement  and  explana- 
tion to  every  student  of  society  and  to  every  reader  of  history. 

I am  trying  to  give  the  impression  that  in  the  ten  years 
of  my  very  cheerfully  given  services  to  this  association,  I have 
been  working  for  a vision  and  a very  large  vision,  not  for  a 


18 


Newark  Museum  Association 


moment  to  be  confounded  with  the  conventional  vision  of  a 
museum  of  art  for  the  momentary  delectation  of  the  passer-by. 

I have  tried  to  show  you  that  this  vision  has  been  the 
product  of  things  seen  and  known  and  not  of  the  mere  idle 
imaginings  of  a summer  day.  And  I have  tried  to  suggest  that 
this  vision,  which  could  be  made  real  here  only  to  that  very, 
very  modest  degree  which  the  narrow  limits  of  our  income, 
our  space  and  our  own  understandings  permitted,  has  been 
seen  by  many  in  recent  years,  and  is  soon,  in  many  of  its  more 
important  factors,  to  be  put  to  the  test  of  actual  practice  by 
some  of  the  ablest  men  of  our  day. 

This  test  will,  if  it  is  successful,  go  far  toward  removing 
Irom  the  minds  of  the  average  intelligent  citizen — man  or 
woman — that  tendency  to  which  I have  so  often  alluded,  that 
tendency  to  think  forever  of  museums  in  terms  of  oil  paintings 
and  old,  rare  and  costly  objects.  As  this  tendency  weakens, 
so  will  strengthen  the  tendency  to  think  of  an  association  like 
this  as  devoted  to  the  task  of  constructing  here  an  institution 
of  great  power  for  pleasure,  for  instruction  and  for  industrial 
betterment ; as  devoted,  in  a word,  not  to  acquisition  and  con- 
servation, but  to  service. 


APPENDIX 


The  preceding  paper, — which  is  in  some  degree  an  apol- 
ogy for  my  last  ten  years  of  museum  activities — was  read  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Newark  Museum  Association  on 
May  29,  1919.  The  notes  which  follow  make  clearer  its  mean- 
ing to  the  few  who  may  read  it  who  are  not  familiar  with  the 
Association’s  work. 

In  the  paper  itself  it  is  perhaps  not  made  plain  that  a very 
large  part  of  our  activities  had  been  experimental ; that  is  to 
say,  we  have  done  many  things  the  definite  T7alue  of  which  had 
not  been  determined  by  the  practice  of  other  older  and  larger 
museums.  We  have,  as  I think  my  paper  intimates,  frankly  be- 
gun certain  forms  of  activity  which,  we  were  well  aware, 
could  not  be  carried  on  to  definite  conclusions  by  us,  but  which 
it  seemed  wise  to  open  up  for  consideration  by  modest  experi- 
ments. These  statements  apply  especially  to  certain  publica- 
tions, like  the  Stories  of  Sculptures,  the  Habitations  of  Man, 
the  Stories  of  the  Prints,  the  stories  of  Clay  and  of  Textiles 
and  the  pamphlet  on  Snow  Paintings. 

The  experimental  character  of  our  work  is  suggested  also 
by  our  Junior  Museum  Club,  with  its  Junior  Museum  News, 
which  we  can  promote  and  guide  to  a limited  extent  only;  by 
our  exhibits  of  modern  German  Applied  Art,  of  New  Jersey 
Clay  Products,  of  New  Jersey  Textiles,  of  the  Republic  of 
Colombia,  of  the  Colonial  Kitchen,  and  of  the  Study  of  Birds. 

Our  city  has  no  museums.  It  was  clear  to  us  from  the 
first  that  it  would  in  due  time  come  into  possession  of  mu- 
seums. Our  question  was,  what  kinds  of  museums  should 
they  be?  To  this  question  the  literature  of  the  subject  gave 
no  answer,  and  did  not  even  try  to  give  one.  Nearly  all  that 
has  been  written  on  museums  begins  with  the  quite  unwar- 
ranted assumptions  that  museum  types  are  fixed ; that  the 
pressing  questions  concerning  them  are  questions  of  verifica- 


20 


Newark  Museum  Association 


tion,  acquisition,  conservation  and  installation ; and  that  when 
a city  decides  to  give  to  itself  such  of  the  stigmata  of  culture 
as  accompany  museum  ownership  it  must  acquire,  first,  an 
ornate  and  expensive  building  and  then  fit  that  building  as 
well  as  its  constructive  features  permit  to  the  assumed  needs 
of  a museum  of  one  of  the  well-known  types. 

Our  movements  in  developing  our  very  modest  institu- 
tion were  not  guided  by  these  assumptions,  and  for  several 
reasons.  The  reasons  were,  first,  those  that  have  been  sug- 
gested by  the  paper  that  precedes  these  notes;  next,  the  limi- 
tation of  our  income,  $142,000.  in  ten  years ; next,  the  nar- 
rowness of  our  quarters,  they  being  a few  rooms  in  a public 
library  building;  next,  the  presence  by  our  side  of  a public 
library,  with  the  accompanying  feeling  that  we  were  almost  a 
component  part  of  that  library;  next,  the  acquisition  of  a 
large,  rich  and  growing  collection  of  objects  in  several  depart- 
ments of  the  field  of  science ; and,  next,  and  most  important 
of  all,  the  knowledge  that  we  were  supported  by,  and  were  in 
duty  bound  to  try  to  be  of  direct  value  and  service  to,  a city 
of  industries,  a city  singularly  void  of  those  institutions  and 
objects  which  mark  most  cities  of  400,000;  and  a city  which 
has  at  its  doors  and  of  easy  access,  the  institutions  and  ob- 
jects of  delight  and  education  of  the  greatest  metropolis  in 
the  world. 

Facing  these  facts,  and  keeping  always  in  mind  the  idea 
of  service  for  the  pleasure  and  advantage  of  our  chiefest 
patron, — the  people  of  Newark, — we  have  done  what  we 
could ; we  have  frankly  experimented ; we  have  acted  much  as 
if  we  were  a laboratory  of  museumology  for  a great  city. 
Fortune  has  favored  us  in  the  fact  that  our  staff  of  workers 
has  been  almost  a part  of  the  larger  staff  of  a public  library, 
and  that  its  members  have  never  known  how  to  spare  them- 
selves when  the  museum’s  interests  were  concerned. 


Museums  and  Industries 


21 


Here  is  a very  summary  record  of  our  activities : 

Receipts  in  cash  from  the  city  and  gifts  from  members, 
$142,063;  gifts  of  objects,  30,000  and  more  in  science  collec- 
tions and  several  thousand  others,  ranging  from  excellent 
paintings  to  colonial  candle-molds ; expenditure  on  salaries 
and  wages  of  special  workers,  about  $60,000. 

Acquisitions,  a brief  summary: 

Oriental  Art  Objects — 

Rockwell  Collections : 

a.  Paintings  and  engravings. 

b.  Ivories,  lacquers,  bronzes,  shrines,  pottery,  porce- 
lains. 

Tibet  Collections:  Edward  N.  Crane  Memorial : Paintings, 
silver,  bronzes,  manuscripts,  ceremonial  objects. 
Japanese  life,  modern;  domestic  articles  and  clothing,  and 
other  objects  similar  to  those  in  the  Rockwell  collection. 


Disbrow  Science  Collections: 

Botanical  specimens  5 000 

Geological  specimens  20,000 

Fossils  700 

Shells,  corals,  sponges,  etc 8,300 

Zoological,  anatomical  and  archaeological  speci- 
mens   1,200 

Ethnological  specimens  150 


Total  35,350 

Books,  pamphlets,  clippings,  etc.,  including  dupli- 
cates   .13,600 

Paintings — in  oil,  watercolor  and  pastel 65 


Many  thousands  of  other  objects  of  art,  including  medals, 
coins;  casts  and  reproductions;  armor  and  weapons; 
bronzes;  pottery,  porcelain,  glass,  terra  cotta;  prints,  en- 


22 


Newark  Museum  Association 


gravings  and  books ; American  ivories ; textiles ; silks, 
laces,  spreads,  embroidery,  brocades,  etc. 

Ethnology,  Industry  and  Science  : 

Habitations  of  man  and  objects  of  daily  life — North  Amer- 
ican Indian,  Pueblos,  Cliff  dwellers,  Eskimos,  Japanese, 
Mediaeval  house,  Greek  house.  Also  includes  imple- 
ments, utensils,  clothing,  windmills,  log  cabin,  etc. 
Industrial  products  and  industrial  exhibits. 

Science  collections — birds,  mammals,  insects  in  cases,  plants, 
herbariums. 

Educational  material  for  teachers,  3,000  items,  roughly 
divided  as  follows : 

Nature  Study: 

Birds,  in  boxes  with  pictures  and  pamphlets 300 

Birds’  nests,  in  cases  with  eggs  and  pictures 10 

Mammals,  in  boxes  with  pictures 20 

Insects,  butterflies,  moths,  in  cases  and  in  glass- 

top  mounts  115 

Woods,  showing  bark  and  several  sections 200 

Physical  geography — models  of  glacier,  volcano, 

plains,  etc.,  with  photos  and  pamphlets 90 

Industrial  and  economic  products: 

Industrial  processes  on  charts. and  in  boxes  with 

pictures  and  pamphlets 500 

Minerals — single  specimens,  study  box  collections 

and  charts,  about 600 

Life  and  customs: 

Dolls  of  various  countries 120 

Objects,  illustrative  of  daily  life  in  various  lands, 

about 550 

Pottery,  bronzes,  plaster  casts,  about 150 

Physiological  models  15 

Laboratory  apparatus 50 


Museums  and  Industries 


23 


All  this  school  lending  material  is  boxed  and  labeled. 
Exhibitions : 


Paintings 18 

Bronzes  3 

Graphic  arts 24 

Photographs 10 

Textiles  of  New  Jersey. . 1 

Clay  products  of  New 
Jersey 1 


German  applied  art 1 

Hungarian  applied  art.  . . 1 

Colonial  kitchen 1 

Republic  of  Colombia...  1 
Miscellaneous  33 


Total 94 


Total  visitors  to  these  exhibits,  about  500,000. 


Printing: 

Posters  150 

Catalogs  and  lists 100 

Circulars  and  invitations 175 

Reports  and  descriptive  pamphlets 50 


Miscellaneous,  including  labels,  several  thousand. 

Of  each  of  the  above  we  printed  from  20  to  3,000  copies. 


9 J-tStoig 


i1 


